• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

depth of finger prick

millenium

Well-Known Member
Messages
434
Location
Singapore
Type of diabetes
Carer
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Urban noise, environmental destruction
Will that affect a reading? I suspect it does. What do u think?
 
I don't think it does affect the reading. I use the lowest setting because it hurts less. My fingers must be warm though, or not enough blood comes out. If there isn't enough blood to get a reading my meter gives an error message.
 
I do not believe it affects the reading.
I believe the best practice advice is to set the depth to the smallest value which gives you enough blood for testing to avoid bruising and pain.

What makes you think the depth of the prick would affect the BG reading?
 
Cant see it making any difference really. I have elephant hide for skin so mine is set to max (dont feel a thing!)
As @helensaramay has asked, why do you think it would make a difference

Cos sometimes i get an unexpected reading and i test a second time immediately and i get another reading that is one mmol apart. And i realise the depth is not the same due to the difference in pressure i press the lancet device on the finger.
 
Cos sometimes i get an unexpected reading and i test a second time immediately and i get another reading that is one mmol apart. And i realise the depth is not the same due to the difference in pressure i press the lancet device on the finger.
I think it's more likely due to the testing device being + or - a bit at times. Have you checked that your test strips have not expired?
 
Cos sometimes i get an unexpected reading and i test a second time immediately and i get another reading that is one mmol apart. And i realise the depth is not the same due to the difference in pressure i press the lancet device on the finger.
There is, I believe, a 15% tolerance on the readings
 
As already suggested meters are not always going to be 100% accurate, but your glucose levels will be changing all the time (depending on what and when you ate and how much glucose you've used as energy) as your blood circulates. So you would be just as likely to get a different reading with the same depth of prick simply because you are picking up and testing a different blob of blood.

Robbity
 
Back
Top